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Check out the report and analysis conducted by Porter Research to see trends and facts about the state of the technology industry in Georgia. Porter conducts the study with TAG each year, providing insights and actionable information used by businesses, policy makers and investors to inform key technology decisions in the state.
Read the 2019 State of the Industry: Technology in Georgia Report
A study of 100 healthcare executives identified two issues to be top of mind for health systems in the coming three years: addressing the cost pressures that have resulted from declining reimbursements, and improving the patient experience.
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Download the Whitepaper: Rising to Meet Healthcare Challenges
A comprehensive look at the top challenges facing Georgia’s hospitals, physician practices and healthcare IT vendors.
Each year, the Institute for Health Information Technology™ (IHIT) — an independent, non-profit organization focused on advancing the needs of Georgia’s healthcare IT community — conducts an industry survey to document the latest healthcare IT issues that are impacting our citizens, care providers and businesses.
Consistent with previous annual reports, IHIT commissioned Porter Research to conduct the online survey. Porter received feedback from qualified healthcare professionals, including clinicians, nurses, doctors, administrators, as well as IT experts, such as business leaders and computer programmers.
Key Findings & Common Ground
While each group may have reported slightly different priorities in terms of market conditions and key challenges, there was much common ground on which hospitals, physicians and vendors can stand, and subsequently work together to drive improvements in Georgia. To view the top five areas that all respondent groups agreed were important, click the Annual IHIT Report: The Voice of Healthcare IT in Georgia.
The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) recently released its eleventh annual State of the Industry: Technology in Georgia Report. The findings come from a survey of more than 300 in-state technology decision-makers to get their valuable insights and forecasts about Georgia’s technology economy as it relates to talent, capital and innovation.
This year’s survey, led by Porter Research, included sector analysis that also focused on some of Georgia’s leading technology industry clusters, including Healthcare, Communication Services, FinTech, and Digital Media & Entertainment.
In the survey results, participants provided a lot of important information about Georgia’s technology sector, including topics related to capital investments, employment and wage growth, and perceived gaps in talent and skills.
Interactive Data Charts
The 2017 report is partially presented within an interactive format that allows you to select and compare data options in order to create custom charts based upon your preferences. Click here to access the online key findings charts of the 2017 State of the Industry: Technology in Georgia Report.
Where patient satisfaction was once solely measured from a clinical standpoint, patients now regard the financial side of the house as an important part of the overall experience. Increasingly, they’re judging and rating their satisfaction with healthcare organizations by the amount of repeat business and referrals they bring.
A study we recently conducted to measure awareness, loyalty and satisfaction with consumer-friendly patient loan programs and the role they play in creating a positive hospital experience for patients reveals some not-so-surprising insights.
The second annual Healthcare Consumerism Study was built on an effective model established in 2015 by the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center at San Diego State University. This year, healthcare market specialist Porter Research designed and administered the survey. In addition, the advice of the CFO from a major health system was also solicited in this year’s study.
The survey was completed by more than 2,700 patients, representing a 78 percent completion rate. This statistically significant response rate provides the survey data with a 95 percent (+/-2%) confidence rate.
Among respondents, healthcare cost is undeniably a concern: 79 percent say it is a factor when selecting a physician, and 81 percent confirm the same when choosing a healthcare provider.
Relative to their cost concerns, 91 percent of survey respondents regard healthcare as a “big ticket” expense that requires financing or some sort of payment plan of 12 months or more. In fact, one out of every three consumers would delay care if a loan program wasn’t made available to them. This is an increase from our 2015 Healthcare Consumerism study, when 26 percent of respondents said they would delay care. Moreover, the finding compares with a recent study by the Commonwealth Fund, which shows 40 percent of adults with deductibles equal to 5 percent or more of their income said they would not seek care due to cost. Experience shows that most patients are willing to pay their portion of care. They just want options to make repayment affordable.
One survey respondent said, “It’s helpful not to have to pay a large, unexpected medical bill all at once.”
Loyalty is an important barometer of future business. According to The Advisory Board Company, patients who return to a healthcare organization within 18 months generate six times more revenue for that provider. Making care affordable through a loan program is a clear benefit that will enhance goodwill, loyalty and referrals within a healthcare provider’s consumer and community base. According to the survey, 90 percent of respondents likely will return to the healthcare provider that offers a loan program, and 88 percent would likely recommend the healthcare provider to friends and family.
“I’m happy there’s a reasonable payment method to manage medical debt versus being turned over to a collection agency,” said a survey respondent.
Each interaction during a patient episode is an opportunity to create a longer-lasting relationship. It’s important to remember that an episode isn’t solely made up of the patient’s experience inside of the hospital’s four walls. Your outreach to patients before service and your follow-up for reimbursement are activities that impact their decision to return to your facility in the future.
For more information on consumer-friendly patient loan programs please contact Bruce Haupt, President and CEO, ClearBalance at bhaupt@clearbalance.org or Cynthia Porter, President, Porter Research at cporter@porterresearch.com.
Source: HFMA’s First Illinois Chapter Newsletter, October 2016
Healthcare is a big-ticket expense that requires long-term financing, according to 91% of patients/consumers responding to a recent healthcare consumerism study.
Earlier this year, Porter Research contacted more than 2,700 participants to find out about their awareness, satisfaction and loyalty to the consumer-friendly loan program from ClearBalance, a company that partners with healthcare systems to provide consumer-centric affordable care while improving net recovery of patient pay and overall financial performance.
“Healthcare often is a large, unexpected expense,” says Bruce Haupt, president and CEO of ClearBalance. “Some patients use their entire savings to pay their medical bills, or worse, declare bankruptcy. The ClearBalance program is a better option. Patients can afford to repay their portion of care and often are more loyal to the health system that offers our program.”
Key findings from the 2016 survey found:
Now in its second year, the Healthcare Consumerism study has provided important insight about the user experience for ClearBalance’s valuable program, which enables patients to easily pay their medical costs and engenders loyalty, positioning the healthcare system as the care location of choice in its community.
Insurers are facing more pressure than ever to meet customer demands or lose those customers to competitors.
A recent survey, conducted by HealthEdge and Porter Research, of 2,500 health plan members across the U.S. indicated that health plans must quickly tune their offerings and provide service levels that match or exceed members’ expectations.
Consumers expect organizations in their healthcare ecosystem to more effectively communicate with them and supply information and services in a way that is as convenient as their experience in other industries. For example, 88% of survey respondents said their health plan could be doing a better job of communicating their total financial responsibility.
Additionally, survey respondents indicate that members care in their health plans lag in “tech-savviness”. More than half, 57%, said their confidence in the health plan’s ability to provide effective coverage and benefits would be adversely affected by the knowledge that outdated technology is being used.
To read the full article, click here at Health Plans’ Survival.
Source: HealthLeaders Media, October 21, 2016
The Institute for Healthcare Information Technology (IHIT) commissioned Porter Research to conduct a study to get insight from Georgia hospitals and healthcare systems about IT workforce readiness and their unique challenges related to IT job fulfillment. This most recent study continues to build onto the research performed in 2014: Georgia Healthcare IT Workforce Readiness Survey and Georgia Healthcare IT & Education Working Together.
This year’s study included reaching out to more than 3,000 key professionals employed at healthcare providers located throughout the State of Georgia to participate in an online survey. Participants — mainly comprised of C-level executives, administrators/directors and managers — had the opportunity to share information about their organization’s IT budgetary spending & priorities, as well as about their current and future job fulfillment needs, the required education and skills that are sought after, and their job recruitment strategies and challenges.
A couple of the key survey findings include:
• More than 80% of respondents stated their IT budget will increase over the next five years, with the top priority areas for IT spending being:
– Electronic Medical Records (EMRs)
– Cyber Security
– Medical Device Integration
• 72% of survey participants stated they have up to 50 healthcare IT jobs currently open. And the overwhelming majority (94%) indicated that they expect to have healthcare IT jobs available in the next one to five years.
• The most mentioned jobs that are expected to be difficult to fill over the next five years were:
– Informatics
– Security
– Clinical
• In response to, “How confident are you that your organization will be able to fill your healthcare IT jobs over the next five years?” Here are the perceptions of the surveyed hospitals and healthcare systems…
With the arrival of October 2015 come changes beyond the color of the leaves, as it signifies the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) deadline for hospitals, physician practices, other healthcare providers and payers to have completed the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, Revision 10) coding systems. ICD-10 provides more granular coding during a patient’s medical treatment, generating specific data that is expected to improve healthcare delivery. Benefits of the more advanced coding include the ability to:
Additionally, since ICD-10 coding includes more complete information on the medical conditions that providers treat, the level of data capture and analytics is expected to allow for more advanced surveillance of public health and quality reporting on a national scope.
For all of these benefits of implementing a more complete medical coding system, it has been a process fraught with difficulties…particularly for healthcare providers and insurers. They have had to shoulder most of the financial responsibility for the operational upgrades necessary to be able to track, code, store and share the data-heavy ICD-10 coding system that is required to participate in reimbursement programs.
Porter Research – a Billian Company – has been working with many healthcare organizations over the past few years leading up to the ICD-10 deadline to develop research programs that would provide key metrics of what was taking place in the healthcare marketplace, as providers scrambled to fund and implement these changes within their business model to achieve regulatory compliance.
“I recently attended the AHIMA [American Health Information Management Association]trade show, and there was a lot of optimism going around about the kickoff for ICD-10, and how well things were going,” said Cynthia Porter, president of Porter Research. “But there’s also the lingering question about what happens if claims don’t get paid in 30 days-time. I think there is an undercurrent of nervousness about the potential for claims to be denied for some unexpected reason. In the end, only paid claims will start alleviating the concerns held by healthcare providers and payers. Training and workflow challenges associated with the ICD-10 transition will continue well past October.”
Navicure, a provider of cloud-based healthcare billing and payment solutions, commissioned Porter Research to conduct a recent national survey of healthcare organizations to gauge their preparedness for the ICD-10 transition. The August 2015 Healthcare Organization ICD-10 Readiness Survey revealed a mixture of confidence along with apprehension from survey participants, the majority (58%) of whom serve as physician practice administrators or billing managers. Some key survey findings include:
“The ICD-10 Readiness Survey that Porter Research conducted helped Navicure understand what was important and needed in the marketplace to meet the HHS deadline. This insight from key healthcare industry stakeholders allows Navicure to better understand the market realities of what is actually taking place during the transition,” stated Phil Dolan, Navicure’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Thankfully, it appears that the ICD-10 deadline arrival has been uneventful so far, as we enter into October. I think this level of preparedness indicates how hard providers and vendors have worked together over the past few years in order to reach this point.” To view the complete survey key findings and action items, visit survey results
Navicure has been working with healthcare providers to assist them through the ICD-10 transition process, to ensure that their day-to-day business operations avoid unnecessary disruption. The IT solution company even offers free access to ICD-10 transition tools that include online correction of rejected claims, expanded claim tracking, and ICD-9 to -10 mapping for any payers that turn out to be unprepared for the change. Navicure’s ICD-10 resource webpage is available at click here
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced earlier this year that non-compliant ICD-10 Medicare claims would be accepted during the 12-month period past the deadline date. However, this does not extend to Medicaid, BCBS and commercial plans. Additionally, the CMS is working with the American Medical Association (AMA) on a series of proactive initiatives [ For more details, click initiative ] to help physicians and other healthcare providers that are struggling to achieve regulatory compliance. The two agencies – representing governance and the medical community – realize the need for addressing the individual challenges faced by healthcare providers beyond an inflexible deadline date as the healthcare industry modernizes its coding system nationwide.